France eyes return to Pakistan’s LNG market

ISLAMABAD: France is poised to re-enter Pakistan’s Liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market after an absence of over a decade, following a legal dispute that led to a French company withdrawing from the sector. During the previous Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) administration, a contract for an LNG project was awarded to French firm, GDF-Suez (now ENGIE), which eventually ended up in the apex court. The PPP government granted a 3.5 million tonne LNG import project to the GDF-Suez on February 9, 2010. However, in March of the same year, a news report alleged a $1 billion loss in the deal, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the matter. Upon investigation, the apex court found no loss and instructed the government to review the decision. Subsequently, the Supreme Court directed the then prime minister to oversee the bidding process for LNG import in April 2010. However, disputes between the petroleum ministry and the law division led to the cancellation of the project. Following this, the French firm exited Pakistan and did not engage in any LNG ventures thereafter.